Snakes and Badgers
by Rumoi
Summary: The snow had been falling full-force for over three weeks, and the life of Tessa Sathren was about to change- dramatically.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Alright, my first try at a HP fic... it is going somewhere so I hope you enjoy. R&R!!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own this disclaimer, if I did I'd charge a dollar every time someone wrote a bad one.

Tessa let out a long, exasperated sigh. There was _no way _that she would be able to master her Charms homework in time for her classes tomorrow. She hadn't _meant_ to leave her practices till last, but finishing her Astronomy charts from that evening 's lesson had just been too tempting; even if her next class wasn't till the full moon. Concentrating hard on the task at hand, she pointed her long, slender wand stubbornly at the abandoned hat that was resting on a carved wooden bench near the hearth. '_Wingardium Leviosa_,' she muttered under her breath hopefully.

The rim of the hat twitched teasingly before it settled back onto the bench. She was reminded briefly of her sorting ordeal two years earlier and her silent wish not to shame her family. She suppressed a shudder at her train of thought; her family wouldn't have been merciful if she had been sorted into a different house. There was a very long line of Slytherins in her family to live up to, not to mention her brother. _Stupid Hat_, Tessa's thought lashed out; she hated thinking about her brother. The hat continued to sit discarded by some other Slytherin on the bench, carved snakes winding around the four wooden legs to meet on the armrests. Tessa half imagined that they were watching her, laughing. _That's stupid, snakes can't laugh_, she reminded herself.

Stretching her protesting joints, Tessa decided to call it a night. She started gathering her books, quills, wand and the multitude of crumpled parchment that had been her earlier attempts at her Astronomy charts. Dumping the used parchment carefully into the guttering fire Tessa watched, fascinated, at the slow curl of the parchment as it shied away from the heat and caught light. At last, as the final piece disintegrated in a puff of blackened char, she turned towards the winding staircase down to the girls' chambers.

As she padded barefoot across the cold common room floor Tessa heard a muffled bark of laughter and the slow grating of stone on stone as part of the Slytherin common room wall opened to reveal three silhouetted figures. She crouched quickly into the shadows of a high-backed wooden chair, silently pushing her books behind another. The three continued their banter, the dim green lights from the lanterns overhead distorting their facial features in the dark; they hadn't heard her. Relieved Tessa crouched further into the shadows.

"Did you see his face when he rounded the corner?"

"Priceless," laughed a second voice.

"Teach that stupid _Prefect_ to come snooping down here at night," replied the first voice.

"Fucking Mudblood," growled the taller of the three in a deep baritone.

Tessa didn't need light to recognize the third voice; her brother and his friends often roamed the castle after lights-out. Their latest pet of terror, or so she had heard, was a Bogart they'd found in an old closet in one of the abandoned hallways on second floor. She definitely pitied whom ever they'd terrorized tonight.

"Almost wet his cloak," continued the voices as they descended the stairs to their chambers.

"What idiot is afraid of bloody _bats_?" The laughter echoed hollowly in the stairwell.

After the three had gone and Tessa was sure she was alone, she let out a breath of relief that she had unconsciously been holding. Picking up her books Tessa hurried downwards to the girls' dormitories, taking two at a time. Her brother's insulting attitude never failed to annoy her, but it suited the rest of her family perfectly. A long line of pure blooded witches and wizards were the pride of her family, and her friendly nature was a constant disappointment to them. She prided herself on being more compassionate than the rest of her family, other than her mother. Tessa smiled at the remembered excitement her entrance letter had caused, as well as how it had deprived her brother one of his favourite insults. Her grandmother had almost died of shock and relief when it became common knowledge that Tessa was not, in fact, a squib. In her family's eyes a pure-blooded squib was as bad as a mudblood; two terms she despised. Her thoughts had lead her to the chamber she shared at the bottom of the winding stone staircase. Quietly, Tessa opened the dormitory door, slipped in, changed, and climbed gratefully into her bed without disturbing her slumbering room mates.

That night her dreams lead her on a confusing chase of a snake wearing the sorting hat, with glimpses of how her life might have been if she hadn't been sorted into Slytherin. Tessa nestled silently into her covers as the first snow of the season started to fall.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Please R&R!  
**Disclaimer: **Hogwarts isn't mine. It wouldn't fit in my purse.

XXX

The thick flakes drifted slowly towards the already snow-covered ground, resting there without imprint. The sky was forebodingly dark with snow, making it seem as if the castle had been engulfed in a vast blanket. All the window panes were frosted with heavy ice and no student was seen without their cloak and scarf held fervently against the cold, despite the various fires that had been lit throughout the castle.  
The first week of snowfall had been great fun. Snowballs were bewitched to follow various professors, as well as peers; brave combats were fought with the long icicles found decorating parts of the castle grounds; armies of snowmen strategized in the on-going war of forts and castles that students had played; not to mention the escapades the younger students had held on the frozen edges of the Great lake. The latter had been brought to a grinding halt by the threatened detentions after a first year student had fallen into the lake and spent half a week in Hospital Wing.  
At first the professors had permitted the gaieties, but after the first week and a half of continuous snowfall the castle had settled into a depressing level of cold. The charms that had been thawing pathways through the snow to classes located outside of the castle had stopped working as effectively, now the only lesson held outside was Herbology in the green houses. The classes held in the dungeons and lower chambers of the castle had become unbearably cold and fire hearths that has remained unlit for years, even centuries, were blazing bravely against the freezing cold. All students were advised to remain inside the castle at all times possible due to the negative temperatures of the weather outside. The temperature had been dropping steadily until now, as the end of the third week of snowfall, the enchanted thermometer erected by the main doors threatened to make Hogwarts history.

"...Miss Sathren, _Miss Sathren_!"  
Tessa sat upright in her chair with a start, only to find herself face to face with her Care of Magical Creatures Master, Professor Tithwillow. There was an interesting, large bird with scales that reflected a different colour each time the creature moved sitting cockily on the Professor's shoulder. Its orange eyes glowed slightly as it regarded Tessa's long, golden hair with interest.  
"... in comparison to the weather may make you drowsy,"  
Tessa tore her eyes away from the bird-creature in realization that Professor Tithwillow was still lecturing her.  
"It'd do you well to remember that this is _not_ a daycare center and I absolutely will not tolerate sleeping during my lessons."  
The bird-creature swayed, cooing merrily, as the Professor crossed her arms over her chest and awaited Tessa's reply. There were giggles from the Hufflepuff girls sitting behind Tessa.  
"Yes Professor Tithwillow, I'm sorry," Tessa said abashed, carefully smoothing her cloak out she picked up her abandoned quill.  
"Very well then," smiled the Professor, "Now class, who can tell me the eating habits of this beautiful Besymme that I have here?"  
The scaled bird tilted its head as it gravely surveyed the class with its fiery eyes.

XXX

"Tess! Hey Tessa, wait up!" Zamina landed at the bottom of the staircase with a graceful jump, her black curls bouncing happily as she caught up with Tessa. "Guess what! Oh, you'll never guess!" she laughed grabbing Tessa's hands, forcing her to drop her bag and spin in breathless circles.  
Tessa couldn't help but smile as she gasped, "What? Tell me."  
Zamina sat down in a heap of cloak, giggles and black curls, managing to still look attractive judging by the boys that had paused on their way to the Great Hall.  
"Clear off, Slytherin girls are out of your league!" Shouted Tessa in their direction, causing a collective murmur among their now scattering audience. She returned her gaze back down to Zamina, who was still slumped on the stone floor oblivious to the cold and looking gravely at Tessa. Tessa sighed. "Well, are you going to spill or not?"  
Zamina stifled a smile. "I, Zamina Zeneth, have successfully devised a fool-proof plan to win the attentions of Alexander Marvino."  
Tessa smiled widely as her best friend broke into further giggles. Alex was only the cutest boy in third grade Slytherin House. "And how, pray tell, shall you accomplish the said task?"  
"With this!" laughed Zamina as she waved a very old, crumpled page in front of Tessa. The page looked like it had been ripped out of a spell book.  
"Where did you get that?" Tessa asked quietly, checking that nobody was still listening in on their conversation.  
Zamina replied nonchalantly , "The Library."  
Tessa almost dropped the books she had been gathering in shock. "Mina! You're supposed to borrow _whole_ books! Madame Horne's going to _kill_ you!"  
"Shh," the black-haired girl looked around conspiringly, "This isn't from a book we're allowed to see, let alone borrow. Besides, I went through a lot of charms trying to get it off that shelf without Madame Horne noticing. She would have caught me too, if it wasn't for that Salone Bull. She accidentally knocked down a whole _row_ of very old books, that klutz."  
Tessa held out her hand and helped Zamina to her feet, trying not to laugh." Fine. Let's go celebrate your success with lunch."  
The two girls went to find seats at the Slytherin table, still giggling.

XXX


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** If anyone's wondering... or reading for that matter... this is taking place years before HP.  
**Disclaimer: **If wishes were fishes we'd live in a sea; if disclaimers meant anything you wouldn't hear it from me.

XXX

"Do you think its _ever_ going to stop snowing?" yawned Matilda as the girls sat together in Charms class practicing summoning charms.  
"Sure it will, it always does." replied Zamina as she summoned her pillow successfully for the tenth time in a row.  
"Very well done Miss Zeneth," beamed Professor Pilgrim, an ancient man who's long gray beard threatened to engulf his face.  
"I meant, it's never snowed this much for so long," continued Matilda after the Professor had moved out of hearing range to try and fix the small fire that a student had somehow started. "I checked the school records and we're two whole feet above the record, not to mention that in a weeks time, if this continues, this'll be the longest continuous snowfall since a century ago!"  
"Maybe you should teach History class instead of Professor Binns," commented Elizabeth sarcastically.  
"Well, it's true anyways," replied Matilda defensively as she sent her pillow back to try her charm again.  
Tessa listened to the continued exchange quietly as she tried to coax the pillow towards her. It would move forwards quite regularly as she summoned it, but then stop mid-air only to commence twirling around the chamber haphazardly until finally bursting in a cloud of feathers above her head, covering her and sometimes Mina. Determined, she tried again. This was her fourth try after getting the charm to work properly once. Each try after had her contending with schizophrenic pillows. This time, however, the pillow suddenly stopped twitching above her and zoomed off towards a group of surprised Hufflepuff girls who had been muttering under their breaths. In one smooth move the pillow changed into a pail of water and upended itself upon the unfortunate girls' heads. As the class regarded the wailing girls, the Slytherins with howls of laughter, Tessa noticed a ripped corner of parchment flutter quietly onto her desk. She glanced around, caught Mina's eye and picked up the parchment in confusion to find a neat handwriting that read: _Try now._ Belatedly Tessa realized that the Hufflepuff girls had been jinxing her summoning charms, a slow blush rose to her face as she turned to survey the class for her saviour. No one met her eyes, as they were all staring at the drenched girls. Zamina glanced mysteriously at the class as a whole as they returned their attentions to their summoning charms. Professor Pilgrim ushered the unfortunate trio out of the class.  
"I bet Alex sent that note," she whispered to Tessa, causing Tessa's blush to deepen. "And stop blushing, or the Prof. will think _you_ wet them."  
"_Accio,_" muttered Tessa, avoiding eye contact with the class, Her pillow flew easily to her outstretched hand, earning a hearty praise from the Professor.

XXX

Class wasn't dismissed nearly soon enough for Tessa, and Mina's whispered ideas about Alex had only made the class worse. Sometimes she envied Mina: outgoing, pretty, fun, quick-witted and the most popular girl of Slytherin house in the grade. Tessa's small amount of popularity was due to her family ties- her brother to be exact, who was the envy of Slytherin- and the fact that she was Zamina's best friend. Sure she was pretty and got good grades, but that didn't make her popular. Although she somewhat resented the source of her popularity, Tessa didn't really mind. The main problem was that she got _too much_ attention because of her brother and, unlike Zamina who flourished on it, Tessa was shy.  
Picking up her bags, Tessa meant to be the first out of class, but Mina had other plans. Grabbing her books and stuffing her quill into her bag as she went Tessa was more than shocked when her Astronomy chart suddenly took flight. "What the..?" She grabbed for it, but the enchanted parchment happily went to hide among the rafters of the classroom ceiling.  
"Sorry Tessa," murmured Zamina, glancing meaningfully over at Alex who seemed to be taking his time.  
"MINA!" Wailed a despaired Tessa as her slaved-over Astronomy homework fluttered lazily above her head.  
"See you in Astronomy!" Zamina waved cheerily, winking as she hurried out of the room to leave Tessa with the problem of catching her homework.  
She was the last person in the class asides from Alex, who was urging his friends on as he gathered his things, and a group of Hufflepuffs in the back corner of the room. Frustrated, Tessa started firing stunning spells at her parchment as it zipped towards the back of the class to rest on the top of an old shelf. Aside from adding a couple splinters to the air, her spells did no good. She reverted to a summoning charm after glaring hopefully at the now somersaulting parchment. After what seemed like ages, Tessa managed to hit the parchment squarely and grab it. She turned to carefully clamber down from the table she had been using for added height. Red-faced and breathing heavily she turned to see Alex leaving the class with a bewildered expression on his face.  
"Here, let me help you down."  
Flustered, Tessa looked down towards the source of the voice to see a third-year Hufflepuff boy approaching with an amused smile on his face. She was alone in the class with him. Confused, she blew a strand of golden hair out of her face before taking the offered hand. The boy placed a hand on her waist and gently swung her down to ground level, still trying not to laugh. She didn't really see any humour in her homework being enchanted to fly away from her, but chose not to comment on his obvious amusement. "Thanks," she muttered as she straightened her cloak and turned to pick up her bag, only to find that the Hufflepuff had already picked it up for her. She held out her hand for the bag, but he seemed oblivious.  
"You have astronomy in the North Tower next, right?" he continued without waiting for a reply, "My next class is nearby." And he started towards the door, leaving Tessa with her hand still outstretched, looking stunned. He turned and smiled, "Well, coming? It's not everyday that someone'll carry your books for you, you know."  
"Oh, um.. ya. Sure."

They had been walking in silence for about two minutes, but to Tessa it seemed longer. She wished that the North Tower was closer for about the hundredth time. After figuring out that she wasn't going to say anything on her own accord the boy started conversation again.  
"My name is Adrien."  
"Um, Hi. I'm Te-"  
"Tessa, yea I know. Who doesn't?" interrupted Adrien. He managed to look embarrassed, shocked and amused at himself all at the same time before lapsing into silence.  
Tessa laughed. '_He's kinda cute,' she_ thought quietly to herself before shaking her head as if to clear the thought.  
Adrien's brown eyes glanced sideways at her suspiciously, "What?"  
"Nothing," replied Tessa quickly before adding, "Just your expression."  
"What about it?"  
She blushed, "It was funny."  
He surveyed her coolly, a hint of mischief in his eyes, "Oh?"  
Tessa tried to mimic the face, but must have failed miserably by the gale of laughter her attempt caused. "Well, I don't know how you did it." She said defensively, crossing her arms.  
"Oh, alright." He chuckled as she wrinkled her nose.

They had almost reached her Astronomy before he spoke again.  
"Listen, I'm sorry about those girls earlier. I really think there should be more friendship between the houses than silly pranks like that, don't you?"  
He smiled winningly. Tessa almost tripped over herself in shock.  
"I mean, we're all in the same school after all," he continued, kindly ignoring Tessa's stumble and rising blush.  
Her mind was in a turmoil. _He_ had sent the note and soaked the girls, _not _Alex as Mina had guessed. Her blush deepened when she realized that they had stopped walking and he was waiting expectantly. Tessa judged that his polite smile meant that he had asked her a question that she hadn't heard. "Oh... um," she twisted a strand of hair nervously, "What?" And, to her complete shock, Adrien started laughing. She had never blushed so much in her whole life, Tessa realized lamely.  
"It was nice talking with you Tessa," he said, still laughing as he handed over her bag.  
"Thanks," she muttered and turned to leave, only to realize with a tug that he was still holding onto one of the bag's handles.  
"I'll see you around," he smiled calmly as he released the bag and left with a wave.  
She was still standing rooted to the spot, overly confused, when she realized that she was late for her Astronomy class. "Shit," Tessa muttered, tucking her hair behind her ear as she ran the rest of the way to class.

XXX


End file.
